The Other Side of Gunrunner

The Mexican ambassador to the United States on Thursday said a botched gun-tracking operation by America “poisoned” public opinion of the United States for the citizens of its southern neighbor.

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told a room of reporters on Capitol Hill that the failed Operation Fast and Furious, which has been the focus of a Republican investigation in the House for more than a year, “put a lot of strain” on U.S.-Mexico relations.

Hold up, Pancho.

There is a flip side to this coin after all.

Let me put it to you this way: If Operation Gunrunner resulted in all those weapons being “walked” to my front door instead of Mexico, the number of new violent crimes in the United States that would have occurred would have numbered exactly zero. Because they were sent to Mexico which is full of Mexicans that tend to gang violence, there were many more violent crimes committed in both Mexico and Mexican-occupied parts of America. Just because we “walked” the guns into Mexico doesn’t absolve Mexicans for their crimes using them.

And, reading the rest of this article, I get the feeling that Sarukhan (that’s a weird name for a Mexican, BTW) isn’t upset that Gunrunner happened, only that it was revealed.

I guess we should be fortunate that Mexico and not Uganda is due south of us.